Rodriguez Candid on Why WVU’s Offense is Struggling and What Must Change

Through the first four games of the 2025 season, the West Virginia Mountaineers rank 62nd in total offense (408.2 ypg), 87th in passing (203 ypg), 33rd in rushing (205.2 ypg), 130th in 3rd down conversion rate (26.8%), and 91st in scoring (24 ppg).

Those aren't the type of numbers you would expect from a Rich Rodriguez-led offense, even without running back Jahiem White and wide receiver Jaden Bray.

So, what's the issue exactly? Rich Rod offered his thoughts during his radio show Monday night.

“It can be any number of things. It can be that the call doesn’t match the defense you’re playing, or just one guy makes a mistake in protection. Or one guy makes the wrong read, or one guy runs the wrong route. And when you’re not dominant, I don’t want to say everything has to be perfect, but everything has to be aligned right. Now, there’s going to come a point in time where we don’t have to have everything aligned right, and then you’re still going to be okay. We’re not there. We’re not going to be there all year, so we might as well face it — we have to be better executing than we did on Saturday.”

He also went on to say, “Not nearly as many missed assignments as you’d think, which is a good thing. I think they know what they’re doing, but the physicality of it and the execution of it is another thing.”

So if it's not missed assignments, are the Mountaineers just not good enough on that side of the football? That's the sense I get, and I'm sure you probably share that feeling, having watched this unit for a month now.

Obviously, the injuries don't help the situation, but the same five guys along the offensive line have started all four games, and yet, have continued to get pushed and bullied around. When you combine leaky protection with a pocket passing quarterback, it spells trouble. WVU can't get into its tempo and find rhythm because of its inability to win on first down. They're constantly in second and longs and third and longs, which makes the play calls fairly predictable.

The most troubling part of Rodriguez's assessment is when he said it's going to be a year-long thing where they have to have all the stars aligned for things to work. Basically, what he's getting at here is that there is zero margin for error with this group. Having the right play call, the protection, the right read from the quarterback, crisp routes from the receivers on every given play is a difficult ask, especially for a group that hasn't played much ball together, or at all for that matter.

WVU isn't going to snap out of this and all of a sudden become a top 50 offensive unit across the board. Their best chance of winning games is finding success on the ground, protecting the football, and dragging their opponents into rock fights. That's just the type of year it's going to have to be.

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